In some electronic device manufacturing facilities, larger size substrates (e.g., 450 mm) may be used to develop electronic devices. Thus, such facilities may be equipped with substrate carriers (e.g., front opening unified pods, also known as FOUPS) adapted to hold these larger size substrates. However, such facilities may also develop devices using smaller size substrates (e.g., 300 mm) and thus, carriers suitable for holding and transporting the smaller size substrates may be employed. However, tools and transport systems adapted to accommodate two or more sizes of substrate carriers can be expensive, redundant, and add undesired complexity and equipment to the manufacturing facility. Thus, conventional adapter inserts 100 as depicted in FIG. 1 have been developed to allow, for example, carriers designed to hold larger 450 mm substrates to be adapted to hold smaller 300 mm substrates.
Such conventional adapter inserts 100 can include a top frame portion 102, a bottom frame portion 104 and two or more support rails 106, 108 extending between the top frame portion 102 and the bottom frame portion 104. The support rails 106, 108 include slots that receive and support smaller size substrates (e.g., 300 mm substrates) therein. The top frame portion 102 and the bottom frame portion 104 are sized and positioned to fit within slots of a larger size (e.g., 450 mm) substrate carrier at locations where two larger size substrates would ordinarily be held.
Even though the conventional adapter inserts 100 allow larger size carriers to safely and securely hold smaller size substrates, such conventional adapter inserts 100 may still require the robots and transfer systems of the manufacturing facility to be specially adapted to accommodate both substrate carriers with conventional adapter inserts 100 and carriers without such adapters, which can be expensive and add undesired complexity to the manufacturing facility. Thus, what is needed are improved adapter inserts and methods of detecting installed adapter inserts that do not require complex and expensive adaptions of existing robots and transfer systems of existing manufacturing facilities.